Merger of National Archives of Ireland: Update

Last Wednesday, 21 October 2009, the issue of the merger of the National Archives and the Irish Manuscripts Commission into the National Library was briefly discussed in the Dail. John O’ Mahony , Mary Upton and Olivia Mitchell asked questions of Martin Mansergh, relating to the merger on issues such as time-frames, staffing, costs, locations etc… No concrete information was forthcoming. This is not surprising. Link

Deputy Olivia Mitchell: I am not questioning the quality of the work being done, which I agree is incredible given the conditions in which staff are working. I accept that the Minister of State is not responsible for bringing forward legislation in the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, but will he convey to the Minister the degree of urgency attaching to this issue?

Deputy Martin Mansergh: The policy decision is made by the Department concerned – in most of the cases we are discussing it is the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism – after which the Office of Public Works comes into play in terms of finding solutions, particularly space solutions and so on. A considerable amount of work has been done in the background in the past two or three years. The main issue, as with everything else, is funding.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell: There is a statutory requirement for the National Archives to have a fully appointed board, but that requirement has not been met for some years. It is a rudderless organisation.

Deputy Martin Mansergh: I am not disputing the Deputy’s point.

Deputy Olivia Mitchell: In that case, will the Minister of State ask the Minister, Deputy Martin Cullen, to do something about it?

Deputy Mary Upton: There was an indication in the last budget that the institutions in question were to be merged, but the relevant legislation remains on the C list. Earlier this week, however, regulations from the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism were placed before us to allow for the time trials for a debutante greyhound to be reduced by 0.3 seconds. That can only make one wonder about the Department’s priorities.

Deputy Martin Mansergh: Bodies such as the National Archives do not move with quite the same speed as greyhounds.